Short Film Review “Harij Weds Sajili” Murder plots, getting even, and outdated tradition all travel a fearless, dramatic, darkly humorous road
WATCH THE TRAILER BELOW:
First, the Recap:
The reality of being trapped with no immediate means to escape. The kind of place one would NOT want to be in, yet might actually occur more often than we are ever aware of in the wide world of arranged relationships and marriages. As if this wasn’t a hard enough actuality TO be in the midst of, it becomes an even more harrowingly distressing plight when one has effectively been “bought and paid for”, with the weight of this now dominating the circumstances in unhealthy, even deadly, ways.
This is now more than evident for Sajili (Rutpanna Aishwarya), whose arranged marriage to Harij (Hridaan Saraswat) is nothing less than a complete nightmare. Facing a husband whose sickening manner and voracious sexual appetites are things she doesn’t wish to engage with, Harij hires a sex worker named Leila (Anshulika Kapoor) to “help” Sajili along. But, there’s an even darker motive lurking beneath this already dire situation, involving the ingrained dowry system that now threatens Sajili’s very life. Can the tables be turned, or the outcome altered?
Next, my Mind:
Let’s be up front from the start that many countries, at least in general, are places steeped in long-standing, innately understood, and more than well-practiced conventions, socially and culturally, across the board. While there may not be anything wrong with following the belief systems and traditions of one’s country’s heritage, it does become an issue when facets of said customs don’t remotely serve the times we are in anymore, much less represent ideas, then reinforce actions, that can actually put people’s lives in danger. It is this harrowing truth that is dramatically AND satirically explored via the context of dowries….and those women who get immersed in circumstances which can literally lead into dire consequences that should never happen or be allowed to continue….thanks to this bluntly forthright, wince-inducing, darkly comedic, highly provocative, awareness-raising, impactfully necessary short film from director Prataya Saha, writer/producer Angela Page, and executive producer Anshulika Kapoor.
This critic has heartily maintained for many years now that independent cinema is THE home for originality, character, and story-driven content. But, another aspect of it that so often commands attention is the sheer, distinct non-conformity and conclusively audacious fearlessness that the community’s filmmakers showcase, most specifically when choosing to tackle hotbed topics that could even go AGAINST the overall viewpoint of the masses. At minimum, it IS this magnitude of boldness that Saha and Page have taken on with this narrative that sees the disturbing instance of a young bride caught up in a loveless, patriarchally-centric marriage to a man bent on not only using his wife simply as a “toy” for his sexual desires, but who is also hatching an even more diabolical plan to ensure the dowry dispute he finds himself in will be taken care of…..permanently! HOW this all is put into motion ends up as just the beginning of what can only lead to either further atrocity…or potentially a uniquely crafted resolution.
I found myself in both shock and awe when viewing this film. Period. In awe first, because the concept is most assuredly original (yet sadly based on real events!), extremely well-written, grippingly captivating in its execution, manages to find HUMOR (albeit DARK, as hinted above) and most definitively keeps your attention the entire 15-minute runtime. Then, in shock BECAUSE this is based on real events, shining a seriously potent light on the practices being exposed and addressed, bringing it INTO the forefront of our minds, and I hope causing real transformative change and shifts in mindsets when it comes to India’s entire notion of dowries. I don’t wish to step on any country’s inherent protocols, but even from my American viewpoint, what is being depicted here NEEDS to at least be AMENDED to ensure that human lives aren’t just saved from being unduly UPended, but more so from being flat out ENDED. I likewise remain both dumbfounded and deeply impressed with the means by which this film so deftly confronts its core themes with cleverly devised wit and wiles, as it all helps to truly drive home the thematic intentions it carries.
Above and beyond the baseline thematic gists above (ie: patriarchy, dowries), the film does also see forays into the ugliness of men’s ego-centric need to dominate, women’s hesitancy or reluctance to stand up for themselves even through they know they can and should, religious prejudice, the rigid inflexibility of those harmful behaviors, attitudes, and “standards” that are still in play and seen as just “the way it is”, and the ongoing issues of gender inequality amongst other ideas all get screen time and it becomes the genuine genius of the film’s direction, as this could very much be seen as a controversial film by some, that aforementioned necessary film by others, and the evocatively powerful space it creates for others to have the chance to just contemplate what has been shown and have greater understanding about topics and points of contention that society as a whole needs to pay more heed to. The finale of this film, at least for me, was one for the short film ages given the journey you take as a viewer which leads up to the conclusion it does. You will cringe. You will laugh. You will learn. It’s entertainment AND social statement on a while new level.
Aishwarya is so adeptly and acutely affecting here, a heartbreaking portrait of a woman who truly IS loving, strong, and intelligent but finds herself in a seemingly no-win and abhorrently harsh situation that might end up costing her more than she realizes through her performance as Sajili. At the whim of, yet still adamantly resistant to, a husband whose selfish, controlling, misogynistic tendencies boil over when Sajili won’t give into what he wants, she soon fears for her physical well-being in more ways than one when he hires a noted sex worker to “teach her” some things but also has another agenda on the plate as well. Whether Sajili will be able to escape multiple fates becomes the primary concern, and how effectively Aishwarya portrays such a broken, vulnerable, frustrated, angry, and paralyzed-by-self-doubts woman to the credible and emotionally intense degrees she does is a complete, wholly winning testament to the acting ability and poise the actress brings to this role. The empathy from the very beginning you feel for this character is conspicuously tangible, another credit to Aishwarya’s ability to emote with depth of intent that hits you fully.
Saraswat likewise delivers an incredible performance alone in that the actor so superbly manifests a character you one hundred percent love to HATE and THEN some through his role as Harij, one pig of a man whose vile perspective of his wife and the only thing he really wants from her is only matched by the equally profuse extent of his personal greed. Leering at her with lust while trying to settle a dispute involving the dowry her family was to provide to him, he amplifies the dilemma further by hiring a well-respected sex worker to “train” his wife, not letting it be known of course that there’s more to it all than meets the already nasty eye. As the events continue to unfold, will this kind of man actually get away with everything he’s intending? Or will there be any chance things might backfire on him as he deserves? It’s the main query we are asking even as the reveals come into play, and throughout the entire time, Saraswat more than sells you successfully on the sheer offensiveness of Harij’s character, with us as the viewer wanting nothing more than to ideally see him get his. A grand display of how actors create these types of characters beautifully.
Kapoor rounds out the primary stars here, and does so with her own excellence of performance, conveying the self-assured strength, confidence, even absolute comfort a veteran sex worker who knows who she is as a woman while readily being an accomplice to more nefarious plans through her turn here as Leila, whom Harij has hired as part of his building scheme of deception and avarice. When initially arriving and meeting Sajili, it becomes immediately evident Leila’s candid and doughty manner should easily overwhelm Sajili’s meek and fearful one. Yet, even as the two women converse and Sajili opens up about her own plight, it causes an almost defiant yet supportive side of Leila to come around, possibly the doorway to things turning against Harij and his machinations towards his unsuspecting wife. Kapoor engenders a sense of sympathy towards her character but not in the same fashion as with Sajili, for Leila isn’t afraid to BE who she is, “wear” it proudly, but then also demonstrate she’s not some pushover to be manipulated beyond what SHE wishes or allows to occur, even with the promise of money. A believably compelling performance.
Additional supporting appearances come from Ashish Athawle and Lakshmi Karthik as Raj and Nira, Sajili’s parents who needless to say have something TO say about the plight at hand! So, in total, “Harij Weds Sajili” is brilliant in its execution, unflinching in its rawly depicted themes, persuasive in its purpose to shift mentalities about “the system”, and entreats us to, we hope, willingly trigger change in order to ensure what is pictured here does NOT happen overall anymore. This is only logical. This is, or should be, to the betterment of us as human beings.
STAR RATING (out of 5):
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
